Forgetting Phoenix
by rAcHeLcUlLeN.xoxoxo
Summary: Alice is trying to find her place again at a school that she has been in her whole life Bella is trying to forget her friends and memories from Phoenix. When the two girls meet, they try to learn how to trust again, and what being a freind is really about
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One- Volleyball

**SUMMARY: Alice is trying to find her place again at a school she's been at her whole life, and Bella is trying to forget her past friends and home, and find her place in a new school. When the two girls meet during volleyball tryouts in seventh grade, they slowly begin to trust each other, overcoming the past, and trying to find their way for the future.**

**READ A/N AT BOTTOM!!! IMPORTANT STORY DETAILS!!!**

APOV

I walked along the narrow hallway to the first day of volleyball tryouts, annoyed at how my day had been going so far. My best friend and sister Rosalie was so obsessed with her boyfriend Emmett, that she no longer paid any attention to me whatsoever. My other friends Angela and Jeanne were awesome, but they weren't the same as Rose. It was that sisterly bond.

I was excited to finally be going somewhere that I actually fit in- volleyball. For as long as I have been playing, every time I tried out I was laughed at for wanting to be a 4'11" volleyball player. Well, once they saw me play, they stopped laughing. My sister and I had played together during fourth grade, and I had played in 5th and 6th as well. Now in seventh grade, I had a chance to try out for the middle school team.

After I had changed into spandex and a T-shirt, I walked into the gym to assess my competition. As I opened the door I was dismayed to find that we were running laps. Even though it seems weird, I hate running laps in a gym. I was pretty good at it, but something about the perfectly flat ground and non-existent scenery threw me off.

I fell into rhythm with the next person that ran bye, and immediately wished that I hadn't. It was Lauren Mallory, the queen bee-yotch of the school. I gave her a disgusted look and she didn't hesitate to return it. Not wanting to spend more time than absolutely necessary next to her, I began to speed up in hopes of leaving her behind.

As started running next to Erin, a girl that I didn't really know but I knew was nice, a girl across the gym from us caught my eye. She was easily running twice as fast as most of the people here; she had already lapped Lauren three times. I couldn't quite make out her face, but she seemed to be a little bit taller than me, with straight brown hair and bangs that hung slightly over her eyes.

"Okay girls, circle up!" called the coach, breaking my train of thought. She was new this year, and her nametag said Coach Dickey. I was a little upset over the new coach issue, seeing that I would have to prove myself all over again. As a 4'11" 12 year old, people usually saw my height and immediately gave up on me.

As expected, the coach looked me up and down and then shook her head like I had personally offended her. I smiled, relishing the thought of the look on her face when she saw how I could play volleyball.

"Oaky girls, warm up! Lauren and Jessica, you lead!" She called. Oh, so she was one of those people that got their jobs by sucking up to Lauren's parents and promising to give her special privileges and A's in all of her classes. It has happened more times than I care to count, let me tell you. Lauren's mom was president of the PTA, and her dad donated the big bucks to the school. Jessica was just her best friend. Well, she wasn't as bad as Lauren by a half, and mostly she was just stuck with her because their parents were best friends as well.

"ONE TWO THREE" called Lauren indicating that we should begin stretching our arms.

"FOUR FIVE SIX" called everyone else. I zoned out for a minute, spotting the new girls again and trying to see what she was like. I was usually a really good judge of character, and what I saw was heart breaking. She had the most gorgeous cat-like blue eyes that were framed by dark heavily made up lashes and lids. Her face was coated in layers of foundation and cover-up.

She had a curvy but still skinny body that was about the ideal body for girls our age, but I could tell by the way that she held herself that she didn't think so. But it wasn't what she looked like, or what was on the outside, but the second I looked into her eyes, I could tell that on the inside she was broken. I wasn't sure if a grandparent had died or if she missed her friends or if it was just first day of school anxiety, but whatever it was, I wanted to be a friend to her.

Once coach had us doing warm-ups, I purposely positioned myself so that Coach Dickey would assign us as partners, which she did. That's when I started to try to get to know her.

"Hi, I 'm Alice Cullen, what's your name? You're new this year, right?" Trying to slow down when I noticed the confusion in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm new. I just moved here from Phoenix, Arizona," she said. As she said it I saw a pang of longing in her eyes. So she missed the place or the people that she left behind there? "My name's Bella. Bella Swan." She said it like she was uncertain. I smiled at her and she smiled timidly back. Maybe we could be friends.

"Okay girls, enough dilly dallying, back to work!" said Coach Dickey, looking at me like I had just proved exactly what she thought I would be like. Well, touching moment broken. And we got back to work, Bella looking off into the distance, me wondering what she was seeing.

**IMPORTANT, READ AND REVIEW!!!**

**Hey, so that is the first chapter of my new story, Forgetting Pheonix. The title is kind of lame, so I might change it in the future, but if you have any ideas, let me know! This story is actually based off of how my best friend and me met, and also some of the stuff that we have been through together. If some stuff seems vague, that's because I'm respecting her privacy and mine. Please review, you don't know how much that would mean to us!**


	2. Chapter 2

**English Class**

**Hello to my wonderful viewers, enjoy!  
**

**Stephanie Meyer x Twilight= this fanfiction!**

**This fanfiction x me = Not mine, still Stephanie Meyer's!**

I walked around the corner, exhausted from volleyball tryouts. That coach was so annoying. She did not want to see that I was actually a good volleyball player, and wanted to make my life heck to prove to herself that I wasn't. Bella hadn't really talked to me anymore during tryouts, and I got the feeling that she didn't want to draw any unneeded attention to herself.

"Hey, um Alice?" I heard a timid voice behind me. Volleyball tryouts were over for today, so I was surprised that she was still here. I had to pick up some homework from my math teacher, but everyone else had gone home.

"Hey Bella, what's up?" I asked, turning around, surprisingly coming face to face with her. I saw the hint of sadness in her eyes again, and heart gave a pang. I smiled at her, encouraging her to let me know what she needed. I wasn't trying to be rude, but it was already 6 o'clock, and it looked like it was going to rain. Walking home in the rain didn't seem like too much fun right now. Any other day was fine, but I was too tired right now.

"Well, I was wondering if I could borrow your phone? Mine is dead and I don't think my dad knows when he's supposed to pick me up," she said, her words spilling out as she got further into her sentence. At the end, she clamped her mouth shut and sighed as if she'd said to much.

"Of course!" I said, resisting the urge to ask her to hurry up. That would be rude, but true, and I would probably say it to anyone but her. She just seemed so breakable, like the smallest word would ruin her precarious hold on the edge of sanity. She tried to figure out how to call while she had her gloves on, failing miserably. My I-Phone, my only electronic besides my laptop, had been given to me only because I had made all A's since 4th grade. Three years of absolutely nothing, and now this. Strange, but I wasn't complaining. I only had my laptop because the school required that I get one.

"It helps if you take your gloves are off. Do you want me to type in a number for you?" I asked, gesturing toward my bare hands. She nodded, her hair swaying slightly, and I took the phone from her, waiting for the number.

As she listed it off, I studied her face some more, seeing if I could figure out what exactly the tragic longing was about. After a brief conversation with who I assumed was her father, I took my phone back and started to grab my stuff before I reconsidered.

"Hey, do you want me to wait with you? I'm walking home anyway, so it's no big deal. I know that I hate waiting alone at the school." I asked, dropping my bags and waiting for her answer.

"Well… sure, if you want to. It looks like it might rain, so you don't have to wait if you don't want to." She said uncertainly, as if expecting me to take the easy way out and avoid sitting with her.

"Thanks, I would love to," I said, taking a seat next to her on the bench. It started to rain right after I sat down and I sighed, knowing that there probably wasn't a way out of walking in the rain now.

"Oh no, I'm sorry. I knew that you shouldn't have waited with me," said Bella, looking even more upset than usual. I shrugged and then grinned.

"Don't worry about it. I have lived in Seattle my whole life, and have walked home in the rain more times than I can remember." I said with a smile. It was true. I lived a block away from the elementary, middle, and high schools, and my parents had taken full advantage of it since I was younger.

She seemed appeased by this and looked around sighing. "I'm sorry, I don't know what is taking him so long. You go ahead, I don't want you stuck walking home in the rain _and _the dark. It's just stupid. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" she said, forcing a smile to her face.

"Are you sure?" I asked her, reluctant to leave her here all alone. She nodded and gestured toward the school gate. And then I made up my mind.

"This is just stupid. If you don't mind a little bit of rain, do you want to call your dad and tell him to pick you up from my house? I live a block away, you can walk there in two minutes." I said.

She looked at me, surprise evident in her eyes. "Why don't you just leave me here?" she asked still looking at me with wonder.

"Because," I started, not entirely sure what to say, "I want to be your friend. And I don't leave my friends sitting at a school in the rain." I said, trying not to smile. At least now she knew that I wanted to be her friend. I hope that she wants to be friends with me.

"Okay then, thanks. A lot," she said, a smile spreading across her face. She called her dad back and told him about the change of plans, and then we started walking. She dug out an umbrella from her backpack, so we walked and talked instead of sprinting all the way home.

"Yeah, so Rosalie and my Jazzy are twins," I said, explaining to her about my best friend and boyfriend. I know that everyone says that I'm too young to have a boyfriend, but we had been best friends since our diaper days, and I know that he would never hurt me.

"And Emmett is an only child. He's huge, but he's really just like a giant Teddy bear," I continued. I know that she probably saw him today and was terrified of him, but I wanted her to know how nice he really was.

"And Edward… well, we don't like to talk about him," I said changing the subject. She looked curious, but didn't press anymore, seeing the discomfort in my eyes.

"So, tell me about your family," I said after reciting my entire family history. I could see my house now and hoped that she didn't have a huge family. "I'm probably boring you with my family tree."

She smiled and said, "I'm an only child, my parents are divorced, end of story." I saw tears starting to form and I hugged her impulsively, sending the umbrella on a journey to the ground. We both started laughing as the rain began to soak us.

"Go, go, go!" I shouted, closing the umbrella and running as fast as I could toward the door, my tired muscles protesting, with Bella close behind. Once we were under cover, we dissolved into a fit of giggles, ending abruptly when my mom opened the door.

"Alice, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" she asked with mock severity, laughing when Bella looked frightened.

"Mom, this is Bella, Bella, Mom. Bella, Mom's just kidding around, she's not mad," I said, laughing again at the relieved look on her face.

We heard a honk behind us, and Bella's smile faded as she said, "That's my dad- I have to go." She looked longingly at the house and walked at a brisk pace toward the car. She had a frown on her face and I heard her yell thank-you before the door closed and the car sped into the distance.

"So, what do you think?" I asked my mom.

"Well, I think that next time it starts raining, you need to call me. How am I going to get this floor dry?" she said, laughing as I pretended to punch her,

"Okay, fine, but we have a new coach, and-"

"She's testing you to prove that you really are good at volleyball, not just super ambitious," finished my mom, sighing as if she had heard it all before. She had, but still.

"Go shower off and the go to bed. I'll come up with some Icy Hot later, she said. "Good night sweetie." She kissed my forehead and then guided me toward the stairs. "I'll see you in the morning!" I groaned and walked up the stairs toward dreams about cars driving away into the rain, with Bella whispering in my ear _help me, help me, help me_. I really wish that I could.

**What did you think? I know that I changed some of the family ties, and that is how I want it to be now. Review please, resivar por favor, ****vérifier****s'il vous plait!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Making the Team

I woke up the next morning with sore, tired muscles. My mom had come in last night, as promised, with the icy hot and it still hurt to walk. After a rushed breakfast of cinnamon toast crunch, I had to practically run down the road to the school. Being so sore certainly didn't help me arrive on time, but by some miracle, I did. Instead of going to my first class- pre algebra- I headed to the office.

"Um… Mrs. Cope?" I asked cautiously. She was a sweet old lady, but she had never really liked me. She was one of the teachers that sucked up to Lauren's parents for more money. There seemed to be an awful lot of that going around lately.

"Hello Miss Brandon. I believe that you are trying to change from pre-algebra into pre-algebra honors, correct?" she asked with forced politeness. I nodded and smiled, hoping that she wasn't looking for anything more.

"Let's see," she said, looking at her computer screen, "if you want to change into that class, you are going to have to change from third period English class into eighth period English. Likewise, you will now have math during third period with Mrs. Hendrickson." She handed me my new schedule and gave me a look, barely concealing the contempt in her eyes.

"Thanks," I said, walking out of there as fast as possible, promptly running into Bella.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just got my new schedule," I said, smiling at her, "and let's just say that Mrs. Cope really doesn't like me." I laughed and then started walking toward Chinese class. I know that it seems weird and impossible, but I'm actually really good at it. It's also a bonus that the teacher, Mrs. Wu, really likes me. I watch her kids when she's busy.

"Alice?" Bella asked quietly. I turned around and looked at her. Well, looked up at her, and smiled. She always seemed to say something after I had already turned around. "Thank you. For staying with me, and not letting me stay alone," she said, blushing a bright red, and I laughed.

"Don't worry about it. That's what I'm here for!" I said, laughing some more.

"Yes, Miss Brandon, and you are also here to go to class, and learn," I heard from behind me. I cringed and smiled apologetically at Bella.

"Bye Bella, I'll see you later," I said, giving her another look that was clearly apologizing, and followed Mr. B into the office.

"Miss Brandon, while we usually look the other way when you skip out on class, this is the third time this year. And school started yesterday." He glared at me as he said this, as if daring me to come up with an excuse. Ha, I actually had one this time.

"I just changed my schedule from pre-algebra into pre-algebra honors," I explained, a grin on my face that was surely infuriating him, "and I was on my way to Chinese when I bumped into B- a friend of mine, and she was thanking me for not leaving her all alone on the bench at 6:30 pm yesterday while she was waiting for her father to come pick her up."

He looked at me, trying to see if I was telling the truth, and then sighed. "Fine, I'll accept that, though I'm not entirely sure that's the truth. Just, try to be on time to all of your classes, okay? You are very bright," he said, sounding reluctant but defeated, "and I really don't want to put you in detention." He waved his hand in dismissal, and I smiled at him. He wrote me a late pass, and I walked over to my locker to grab my books. I can talk my way out of anything.

"Ni hao Alice," called Mrs. Wu. I smiled and sat down next to my friend Sara.

"Hey, what did I miss?" I asked her in a quiet voice, trying not to disrupt the daily drill. We were translating something about when David gets up in the morning. Hate to say it, but I honestly don't care what David is going to do today.

"Well, unless you count learning about what David's sleeping schedule as interesting, than you didn't miss much," she said with a little laugh.

"Alice, why don't you read this sentence for us," said Mrs. Wu with a stern glance in our direction. She was really cool, but she always knew everything that goes on in her classroom. No matter what is happening elsewhere.

I smiled at her and confidently replied, "Ni mei tian zao shang ji dian qi chuang?" I said, apparently asking David what time he wakes up every morning **(A/N yes that is really how you say that in Chinese). **

"Well, good job class. Tonight's homework is to print an essay off the class website and translate it. Study for your test on Friday!" She said. We all groaned simultaneously when we heard that, and I grudgingly walked back to my locker.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The rest of the day went by all together to quickly, and before I knew it, it was time for volleyball tryouts. This was the last day, and also the day that the teams were decided. I was a little nervous, but mainly because the coach still hadn't admitted to herself that I was a good volleyball player.

"Hey, Alice, good luck at making the team today. Why are you kidding yourself? You are way to short to ever play volleyball," said Lauren snidely from behind me.

"Well, that's why I'm the libero. I'm there to get the ball when you can't move your lazy butt fast enough to get the ball," I replied indignantly. She looked confused and I laughed, "A libero is someone who plays in the back row only. They don't have to serve, but they can. Maybe if you were a better volleyball player, you would know that." I smiled as I walked away, reflecting on the extent of Lauren's stupidity.

"Bella is so bad at volleyball, I can't believe she thinks that she has a chance," I heard Lauren say to her friends. They all laughed.

"Excuse me? Are you saying something about Bella?" I asked Lauren. She flinched visibly as I glared at her.

"I only said that she can't play volleyball. This is the truth. Isn't that what they teach us at this school? To always tell the truth?" she asked with a smirk, only a sliver of fear evident in her eyes.

"If I always told the truth, I would call you a lot of unkind names on a daily basis," I said, "but I don't. And for the record, Bella is twice the volleyball player you are. Next time I here you say something mean about her, my hand is going to high five your face." this time I walked away for good.

"Okay girls, we have the final practice today, and at the end of practice we will be announcing the team. I have Coach Andrea here with me to help decide the teams." coach dickey said as she walked into the gym. I smiled at this, knowing that Andrea knew I was a good volleyball player.

"Okay girls, I want Alice and Bella leading warm ups today," said coach A, smiling at me.

"One two three"

"Four five six"

"Seven"

"Eight"

"Seven"

"Eight"

After we had all warmed up, we played a game. Bella, Erin, and a few other girls were on our side. Lauren, Jessica, and a few others were on their side of the net. There were seven other girls sitting on the side.

"You're going down Brandon," sneered Lauren from the middle hitter position. I sneered back and said, "In your dreams." and I was right. We got 10 points off my serve before coach dickey deemed it unsportsmanlike and made me rotate. In a nutshell, we killed their team 25 to 3.

After everyone had played, we all did endurance training and then lined up to hear who had made the team.

"Lauren" well, that was a given.

"Jessica" That was another given.

"Erin" well, she was nice, plus she was a pretty good volleyball player.

"Bella" Yay! I was so excited that she had made it! Now I could spend more time with her if I made it. I walked over and hugged her, and she looked down at me surprised.

"Alice" Yes! I jumped up and down and squealed, and pulled Bella with me over to where the people who made the team were supposed to go.

"Okay girls, all you need to know are that practices are Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 to 6, and games are Mondays. Tomorrow's Friday, and we don't have a game until week after next Monday, so I'll see you Tuesday!" said coach A with a smile.

"Hey, this is going to be so much fun! We should carpool for games!" I said, jumping around some more. She looked willing, but like she also thought I was crazy.

"Haha, sure Alice, what ever you say." said Bella. And when I looked at her face, for a fleeting second that sadness was gone.

**REVIEW!!! Sorry that this was kind of a dry chapter, but I had to write about them making the team. Next one will be better!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4- Lunch Time**

**Hey, just to clarify, this entire story is being written in Alice's point of view. I've had several people ask me about that, so now you know.**

**Disclaimer: Wait, let me check… nope, still don't own Twilight**

"Hey Bella, do you want to eat lunch with me tomorrow?" I asked after volleyball practice on Tuesday. Coach Dickey still didn't like me, but my powerful jump serve and mad volleyball skills had forced her to put me in the games. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Coach Andrea had something to do with it as well.

"Um, would your other friends mind?" she asked timidly. She was so sweet. If I was new and had been invited to sit at a table, I would have jumped at the opportunity. I also would not have given a second thought about anyone else.

"Of course not, they're all dying to meet you," I told her with a reassuring smile. She smiled gratefully and nodded, walking toward a waiting car. I smiled, happy that I could finally introduce her to all of my other friends.

"Hey Brandon, is somebody tired of being the worst on the team?" asked Lauren with fake sympathy and a wicked smirk.

"Aw, you're being too hard on yourself Lauren," I said, mimicking her fake sympathy. Lauren took a step back as if she had been slapped, and I continued, "Even though it's true. I'm glad that you are finally admitting it to yourself. You know, they say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it. Good luck!" I walked away, shedding the false enthusiasm that had been plastered to my face. A hint of satisfaction remained, and I was glad that I always managed to hold my own against Lauren.

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"Hey, are you still eating lunch with me?" I asked Bella the next day in the hall.

"Oh, I uh, thought that you changed your mind," said Bella sheepishly. I laughed and dragged her out to the court yard where we were sitting. It was one of those rare sunny Washington days, and we were all taking full advantage of it.

I heard Emmett's booming laugh, and followed it to a table near the edge of the court yard, closer to the parking lot. There was a large grassy area where some of the girls were seriously laying out. Most of the girls here relied on spray on tans, so this was a rare experience.

"Hey guys, this is Bella Swan," I said, pulling her forward so that they could see her face. Emmett's face was stretched in the same wide grin that he had been wearing practically every day since he was born. Rosalie smiled, but looked indifferent, and Jasper was smiling almost as wide as Emmett was, but still managed to look shy about it. I don't know how he does that, but it is amazing.

"Hey, I'm Jasper Hale. I cannot tell you how excited I am to meet you. Alice has not stopped talking about you since the first day of volleyball tryouts, and I really hope that you are as nice and smart and sweet and wonderful as she says you are," said Jasper in that charming Southern way of his. Bella blushed at his words and looked at me for confirmation. I just smiled and nodded.

"Hey, I'm Emmett. We are going to have so much fun!" he said this with a semi-hysterical grin, and I wouldn't blame her if she was terrified.

"Emmett! You are going to scare her!" I said with a reprimanding glare, and I turned to Bella and said, "Don't mind him, he's really just a giant teddy bear. Once you get to know him you'll get it."

"I'm Rosalie Hale, and I'm twins with Jasper, if you hadn't already noticed," she said, looking over at Jasper subconsciously. "I've also been hearing about you nonstop as well. The only difference is that I'm actually excited to meet you, not just to shut Alice up. She talks a lot, and it just so happens that you are one of her favorite topics this week." said Rosalie, glaring at Jasper as she said this. He looked properly abashed, and Rosalie smiled at Bella saying, "Well? Are you going to sit down or stare at us like we're Alice while she's high on coffee?"

Bella blushed again and sat down, tripping a little as she did this. "Hey wait are you clumsy?" asked Emmett, looking like he had just won free pizza's for a year. I know this look well, because last year the school had a pizza eating contest. The winner got free pizza for a year. Guess who won?

"Well, yeah I guess," said Bella. Wow, she really blushes a lot; I can't believe that I never noticed that before. "But usually on either stairs or flat surfaces. There's never really a reason.

"Oh, this is going to be awesome!" said Emmett, high fiving Jasper. Rosalie and I glared at them. Their grins slid off of their faces, but our glares did nothing to stifle the mischief in their eyes.

"Hey, did you hear that Lauren asked Mike to homecoming, and he said no? I heard that he wanted to ask Jessica instead. Hope that he does, that would serve her right," we heard as a group of girls walked bye. I laughed but didn't comment; knowing that whatever I said would probably come back and bite me in the butt later.

"I don't get it. They all hate her, yet they feel like they need to know about her entire life," said Bella. We all looked at her, trying to understand how she could have known that. It's true, but it took me several years to figure out that all the people that hate Lauren, and want nothing to do with her, are the people that know the most about her.

When Bella noticed that we were all staring at her, she just looked around, startled. "What?" she asked, trying to comprehend the expressions on our faces.

"It's nothing, just that you seem unusually observant, especially since you've only known these girls for about a week," replied Jasper, struggling to look away. He always seemed to know what people were feeling, and right now he seemed to be trying to know what she was getting at. He gave me a look and shrugged.

"So, anyway, Bella, has anyone asked you to homecoming yet?" asked Rosalie in that tactful way that she has. Everyone noticed the not-so-subtle subject change, but we were all nice enough to stay quiet about it.

"Well, yeah actually. Eric… Yorkie, I think? And some kids name Mike and Tyler. I said no to them all. I don't even know them!" she said, starting to rant at the end. We all just stared at her again and she surprisingly laughed. "If you guys keep going silent every time I say something, we are going to have some very one sided conversations." She smiled when the bell rang, said something like 'thanks' and walked away.

"Um, am I delusional, or did she just tell us that Eric, Mike, and Tyler just asked her to prom," I asked Rosalie, struggling to remember how to close my mouth.

Emmett and Jasper laughed, and simultaneously yelled "DRAMA!" and laughed before running off to class.

"Whew, you sure can pick 'em. Three guys in one week. Sounds like me!" said Rosalie. We both laughed at this, and walked toward our next class.

"Hey, we need to go shopping tonight. It's Wednesday, homecoming is Friday, and we still don't have dresses!" she said, sounding distressed.

I pretended to comfort her and laughed, "Aw, poor Rosie, doesn't have a homecoming dress. There's only two days left!" we giggled all the way to our next class, and into the first ten minutes of class until our teacher finally got fed up and told us to shut up or leave.

My phone buzzed during my last period. It was from Rosalie and it said _shopping after skool, b the bench by 3! _Yay! Shopping! This was going to be fun.

**A/N hey, sorry if you think that Rosalie should be mean and harass Bella, but I don't think that we give her enough credit. Who else is excited for Edward and Jacob to enter?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5- Bad News**

**Reviews make my day! When I go to check my email and I see the in the address bar and next to it is a review alert makes my day. Even when I have a terrible day, reviews make it all better! Review please!**

**Disclaimer: still not mine… maybe someday.**

Rosalie and I convinced my dad to take us shopping for homecoming dresses. My mom was going to come meet us later and give the final word, but it took too long otherwise if she came. She would sit there and dissect each dress, and it would take a whole lot of time that we really don't have. My dad usually got bored after about 5 minutes, and would hand us his credit card and leave. We had to drive all the way up to Port Angeles, so he always went and saw some friend that he hadn't seen in forever, blah, blah, blah. That speech was always fun.

"Hey, so what about this one?" asked Rosalie, holding up a red, strapless dress. It was gorgeous, but it would make her look about ten years older.

"Um, Rose? We're still in middle school. You would look like you were headed for a college party in that. Maybe go for something yellow or pink," she gave me a look, but I knew that deep down she agreed. Besides, she looked good in every color.

"Ali, there is no homecoming dress that is yellow and cute at the same time. Look at all of these!" said Rosalie, sounding disgusted. There were some mustard yellow ones, along with a paisley one that my grandma probably wouldn't even wear.

"Hey, how about this one," I said, holding up a purple belted dress. It had a little bit of ruffle on the bottom, but in a cute way, not in an 'I borrowed this from my grandma' way. Rosalie took the dress, looked it up and down, and walked straight into the dressing room. I heard her struggling with the one hand and the zipper thing, so I walked over and did it for her. When she turned around, I gasped. Everyone had always told her that red or pink looked amazing on her, but they did not do purple a justice. She was gorgeous.

"Wow Rose, that's amazing. That is definitely the one." I looked over it in aw, before she shooed me away so that I could go find mine. She wore her dress while looking for mine, and I could see that the person behind the counter was giving her dirty looks. She ignored it, as always, and began to poke around in the section of blue dresses, coming up with more than I could count before I had a chance to protest.

"Rose, do I really need to try all of these on?" I asked, my voice muffled by the pile of dresses in front of me. I couldn't see her, but I was pretty sure that she was giving me a disproving look. I don't even know why I was complaining, I loved trying on clothes. The only problem was that it was already getting dark, and I still hadn't started an English project that was due tomorrow.

I dutifully tried every dress that she handed me on, showing her only the ones that I thought had the potential to be cute. She either smiled or frowned when I walked out, and I had learned that if she was frowning, I should probably go get another dress on very quickly.

"That- that is the one," she said, smiling at the dress that I was wearing. It was a blue strapless dress that came about halfway down my thighs. It was a silky and gorgeous, with a small pin, pinned to the side of the bottom half. It was in a wrap style, and it was the most beautiful dress that I had ever seen.

"Hmm… I agree. But is it too short?" my mom asked, walking into the store. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the full length mirror to see what it looked like. They were right; it looked gorgeous against my pale skin and dark hair. It was a little bit short, but nothing to scandalous. I knew that my mom would want pictures of me and Rosalie, so I walked back over to them and smiled.

"Rose, you're a genius, this is the one. And no mom, it's not too short." She laughed as I said this, and Rosalie beamed. I know that complementing her fashion sense is the fastest way to her heart. Well, not really, but she was super nice for the next few days.

"Picture time!" said my mom, as expected. I was suddenly pushed against Rose, and then blinded soon after. The flash of the camera was always too bright, too sudden, but I loved pictures anyway.

"That was great girls, I'm so glad that you picked these out. It's already 7 and I want to take the two of you out to dinner. I have something that I want to tell you." My mom said, purposely ignoring the worried looks that we gave each other. I knew that if it was something really great, she wouldn't have been able to keep it a secret.

"Mom, is something wrong?" I asked her as we bought the dresses. The shopkeeper continued to glare at Rose and I; we had left almost half of the inventory to put away.

"No, of course not, it's a good thing." She said, not going into any further detail. I glared at her, annoyed at the vague statement. 'Good' is a very subjective word. A word that tended to mean other things like chores or allowance cuts. It was always for our own good of course.

"This time it's actually a good thing," said my mom, sensing my reluctance. She always knew what I was thinking, and it was really weird sometimes. Others, like now, it was just really predictable.

We walked into the nice Italian restaurant on the corner, and my mom requested a table for four.

"Um, mom, are you sure you mean four?" I asked timidly, "There are only three of us; I think that dad already went home." I didn't really mean to question her sanity, but maybe she thought that dad was going to be joining us. Or, maybe she really was crazy.

"I know that silly, but someone else is coming too. Your dad and Rosalie's dad are coming up to get R-" started my mom, getting interrupted by my dad and Mr. Hale walking in.

"Hey, I'm here to pick up a Miss Rosalie Hale?" said Mr. Hale, in his loud booming voice. The whole restaurant turned to look at us, and Rose's face went bright red.

"Um, bye Ali, I'll see you tomorrow." She said, walking fervently toward the door, grabbing her father's hand on the way. I laughed and waited for my dad to walk over, but he was holding the door open for someone. My twin brother, Edward, was back.

"Eddie!" I shouted, using the childhood nickname for him that I knew he hated. He grimaced as I hit him, but hugged me back, a little. Oh well, I guess that is all that I'm going to get.

"Hey, how was camp? I can't believe that you were gone for a month, I missed you so much!" all these words came out at once, and soon he was laughing, trying to keep up with me.

"Well, it was good, but I'm actually very hungry. Can we eat now?" he asked, directing the last question to our parents. They nodded, sitting back down at the table. I was so happy- mom was right. This was a good thing. Well, I really hope that this was what she was talking about.

After I had finished hugging Edward, my mom had moved in to take my place. She hugged him, telling him all of the normal 'one month is too long', and 'you're never going back', all that jazz. The thing is that I know she's going to let him go again anyway.

"Okay, so mom, this was the surprise, right?" I asked her, waiting for the assured yes. She looked warily at my dad, slowly shaking her head.

"Well, not really. The thing is… sit down everyone." She started, and we quickly obliged, nervous for her to continue. "Well, Edward was the good surprise Alice, but… there's a bad surprise too."

At those words, my heart started beating ten times faster, my pulse rate heightened. I was worried, especially since she wasn't laughing at me. If it was something bad at my expense only, she usually laughed. Right now it looks likes she's about to cry.

"Well, papa has something called ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease," she said, tears starting to leak out of her eyes. "That means that his nervous system will deteriorate, and eventually, he dies," at this, the world seemed to stop. Well, the world kept going, but now I felt like an onlooker, not really a part of it. I subconsciously noticed my mom leaning into my dad's shoulder, flat out sobbing now. I saw Edward shut his eyes and hunch over, and I knew him well enough that I knew he was trying not to cry.

My dad seemed sad, but I'd never seen him cry before, and I could tell that he wasn't going to change that now. He would try to be the strong one for us, just like he always was.

I was more like my dad; I wouldn't show it, but on the inside I would be dying.

"Edward… Edward?" I asked, gently shaking his shoulder. I knew that he would take this the hardest besides my mom. Papa had been like another dad to him- taking him fishing, teaching him how to ride his bike, all the stuff that my dad had been to busy to do, always working at the hospital. I had always spent more time with my grandma. We had been the more artistic branch of the family, always drawing or writing or acting.

"Esme, come on sweetie, I think that it is time to go," said my dad, helping her stand, but keeping her head pressed to his shoulder so that no one would see her swollen red eyes. I got up, but Edward stayed sitting. I motioned to my dad that we would be out in a minute and I sat down next to him again.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked him, lifting his head up so that I could see his eyes. His eyes had gone cold and still, as if he had shut down so that he wouldn't have to face it.

"Hey, listen to me. He's still here now, right? And if I know Papa, I know that he's a fighter. I'm sure that he will live longer than anyone with this disease has ever lived before. We'll all be okay." I finished comforting him with a hug, and then walked out of the restaurant. I had done all that I could, and now it was up to him to decide to let go of what he couldn't control.

"Hey, is Edward- oh, never mind, there he is," said my dad. I noticed for the first time that Edward had been right behind me as I walked out. He still had the coldness in his eyes, but now there was a little bit of… acceptance? That he couldn't do anything about it? I'm not sure which, but whatever it was, at least he was responding now.

We drove home in silence, and when we arrived, we all went to bed after a few pathetic mumbled goodnights. I called grandma and talked to her, and she seemed to be doing fine. She always had been really emotionally strong, or at least really good at hiding them.

I crawled into bed after a long hot shower, and curled up with a good book. I shut my light off ten minutes later, unable to concentrate due to exhaustion.

After tossing and turning for about an hour, I decided to go into Edward's room. I glanced at the clock on the way out, seeing that it was already 12, but knowing that Edward probably wouldn't be able to sleep either.

"Edward?" I asked timidly as I opened the door into his room. I noticed that his bed was empty, so I walked out onto his porch that overlooked the lake. Since it was the second story, you felt like you were at the top of the world, with the stars up above.

"You couldn't sleep either?" I asked him, walking over to sit on his lap. Even though we usually teased and made fun of each other, there were times like these when we really had our brother-sister moments.

"I just can't believe it. I always thought of him as someone that would always be there, unchangeable and unbreakable. Now I hear that he only has one year to live?" asked Edward, his voice breaking at the last part. I looked into his eyes and hugged him.

"It's going to be okay. And do you know how you could make it better for me?" I asked him, beginning to form a devious smile. He looked at me reluctantly and I continued, "Can you at least sit with us one day a week?" I took in his face as I said this, and the look of repulsion and horror made me laugh and then smack him- lightly, of course- upside the head.

"Okay Alice, but just one day." I smiled when he said that, glad that for once he might not be a popular snob at school. Well, a girl could dream, couldn't she?

**HEY! I have the girls' dresses on my profile, check them out!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- Vacation Ideas**

**Disclaimer: I really wish that I had dreamed up the Cullen boys… but I didn't. It's all SM. **

**APOV**

I rolled out of bed that morning and onto the floor. I groaned, remembering too late that I had slept in Edward's room last night. That's when I saw him, smirking in the corner by the door.

"Are you laughing at me?" I asked. I guess that my bed head combined with the indignant pout on my face all made for a very funny looking Alice. Edward doubled over laughing, my yelling having no affect on him.

"Ugh, you are such a pain!" I yelled, walking towards my bedroom to get ready. I noticed him close the door after my dramatic exit, but not before I saw him still laughing. Why did I miss him again?

After getting ready and eating breakfast, Edward and I started walking toward school. We chatted the whole way there, but the second that we were in view of the school, he instantly disassociated himself, speeding up so that no one would see him with me. Even though everyone knew we were twins, he would do almost anything to keep up his 'image'.

"Bye Eddie, we wouldn't want any of your friends to see you with me, now would we?" I asked, rolling my eyes when he didn't respond. I was about to say more, but then I saw Rosalie. I ran over to her without giving Edward, my dear brother, another thought.

"Wow, is he really going to be like that again this year?" asked Rosalie, sounding as disgusted as I felt. I couldn't help but think about his promise to sit with us, and if he was going to keep it. I walked toward my locker, only half-listening to what Rosalie was saying.

"Hello? Earth to Alice," said Rosalie, shaking my shoulder gently but with purpose. When I blinked up at her, she rolled her eyes and said, "I was asking you what the big news was last night. Oh, hey wait, was Edward coming back the big news?" she seemed to take my silence as conformation, and continued on to a new subject. I think that she was saying something about going skating with Emmett. Hmm, that sounded funny; maybe I should see if I could come.

"Hey, Bella!" I said, seeing her in the hallway. I knew that she had been shopping for homecoming dresses too, and I wanted to know what hers looked like. She looked over at me and motioned for me to wait, deep in conversation with our English teacher, Ms. Flagler.

"Hey, Alice?" asked Jasper, coming up behind me. I turned around to smile at him, and tried to hug him without any teacher seeing: With no luck of course.

"No hugging in the hall, Ms. Brandon," said Mr. B in the loudest voice possible. I groaned and gave Jazzy another squeeze before letting go. Mr. B glared, but I just smiled angelically, walking toward my first period before remembering that Jasper had wanted to ask me a question.

"Hey, sorry, I forgot that you wanted to say something. Mr. B is so annoying," I said, about to start on my own little rampage before he interrupted me.

"Do you want to go to homecoming with me?" he said this with an ease that you would not expect from a guy asking a girl out, and that was probably because he was fairly confidant that I would say yes.

"Of course, I would love to go to homecoming with you!" I said, feigning surprise. We both knew that he didn't really have to ask, but it was still fun to go through the motions. Besides, this would make getting ready that much more fun. Hmm, that reminded me; I needed to ask Bella if she wanted to get ready with us.

"Hey Bella, do you want to come over to my house after school on Friday and get ready for homecoming with Rosalie and I?" I asked in a rush, not wanting to use up my third strike with Mr. B on the first week of school.

"Oh, I'm sorry Alice, but I already promised Angela that I would go get ready with her and some of her friends. But next year definitely," she said with a sad smile and a nod. She walked toward class, effectively ending the conversation, but not before I had a chance to feel rejected, which was stupid. It's not like she can't have other friends. Even though I wished that we were best friends.

"Hey Alice, do you still want me to sit with you?" asked Edward, sounding more reluctant than someone who was about to get hanged.

"Jeez, I don't want you to if that's how you're going to act about it. I missed you, that's all, and if you missed me too, than sit down. If not, go sit with your little friends that are apparently so much better than me," I ended my rant by turning my head and making a point of talking to Emmett, but I honestly expected him to just walk away.

"Ali, you know that I missed you, you're being stupid. Of course I want to sit with you," he said, making me feel like a kindergartener who had gotten another problem wrong.

"Yay!" I said, giving him a hug and instantly forgiving him. I saw Bella walk our way, and the last sliver of rejection disappeared.

"Hey, Bella, this is my brother Edward!" I said, sounding more excited than usual, and that is certainly saying something. When she heard the name, I saw the recognition in her eyes from the day that we walked home together. I'm sure that now she was wondering why I had said that we don't talk about him.

I saw Rose walking toward us, a look of pure rage on her face. Well, it looks like Bella was about to find out exactly why we don't like him.

"Why are you sitting with us!" asked/demanded Rose, barely managing to keep her voice below screaming. It wasn't really that she didn't like him; it's just that she knew how much his ignoring me last year had hurt me. Rose was fiercely loyal, and this was one of the times that it shows.

"You completely ignore your own twin every freaking day of last year, all because you're too 'popular'," said Rosalie, putting air quotes around popular, "and now you expect us to just smile and say 'whoop dee doo, and let you back in?" The look on her face had now turned from rage to loathing, and Edward flinched. I figured that this was where I had to say something for him.

"Hey, Rose, chill. I asked him if he could sit with us, you know that I missed him," I said, giving her a meaningful look. To Edward, it would seem like I had missed him while he was at camp, but Rosalie knew that it went much deeper than that.

"Fine, but one more thing, and that's it," she didn't have to explain herself; he already knew.

"Any way, Bella, what does your homecoming dress look like?" I asked her, truly excited to hear. I don't know exactly why, but hearing about someone else's knew clothes was always fun.

"Okay, well for one thing it's a royal blue/purple color," she started, smiling as she said this. Ooh, she was wearing the same color as I was! That would be so cool; we could do pictures with Rosalie on the inside, and the two of us on the outside. "And it's kind of a halter style dress. But that's all that I'm going to tell you; it's so much better in person and you guys are going to see it tomorrow anyway." Ugh, I hated it when people said that. But she did have a point. I loved analyzing everyone else's dresses, especially my friends'. They were all usually gorgeous, so…

"Well, mine and Alice's dresses…" said Rosalie, going off onto a long branch about how amazing our dresses were, and how everyone was absolutely going to adore them. I tuned her out for a moment, thinking about what I was going to due this afternoon. Then it hit me.

"Hey you guys, I just thought of the best vacation. It's Thanksgiving break soon, right?" I asked them, telling them all about my plan. This was going to be awesome.

**Hey, where should they go? Let me know! Ooh, mini cliffy. Well, not really, but still. Was anyone else upset that Edward and Bella didn't immediately fall in love? Hmm, I could have done that, but that would have ruined everything else that happens.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7-Getting Ready and Homecoming!**

**Hey guys/girls! Sorry that I haven't updated very often lately, I have been super busy, sorry! Have fun reading about my friends' various adventures!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own, blah, blah, blah, wish I did, all that jazz**

APOV

It was finally here! Rosalie and I were going to get ready together. My mom took us to some hair salon in Port Angeles, and we got our hair and make-up done. My hair was just in little curls in the back, but the stylist couldn't really do that much with it because it was so short. Although by hair was to short, Rosalie's stylist certainly went to town on hers. It was in these little twists, and in the back it was curled and in a ponytail. Rosalie had pretty dark make-up on, but mine was a more natural color.

"Pictures!" squealed Rosalie, hugging me so that we would both fit into the impossibly small frame that was on her phone. She asked one of the other stylists to take it. She looked at us funny but took it anyway. When we got it back we both laughed. Rosalie had put the setting on her phone to make it look like we were wearing these gorgeous dresses. We giggled until we started getting funny looks, and then called my mom to come get us. I'm pretty sure that she was next door shopping for more clothes.

"Ahh!" screamed Rosalie as she checked the time on her phone. We had an hour left, and she was freaking out that we wouldn't have enough time to raid my mom's jewelry box. Rosalie knew exactly which pieces of jewelry she wanted, so I honestly didn't see the dilemma.

"Rose, you know exactly what you want. Plus, we live two seconds from school, and you know that you like to be fashionably late," I said, trying to reason with her. There were other reasons why that was no big deal, like the fact that my mom drove super fast, but I think that she has more than enough proof for the time being.

"Fine, fine, you're right. That doesn't mean that I agree, but I know better than to bet against you," she said, sounding exasperated. She was going to act like this right up until the time that the dance started, and then she would pretend like she had been happy and normal the entire time. My guess was that she hadn't gotten enough sleep last night.

"Okay girls, I want a picture with you girls and the boys too," said my mom, giving me an innocent smile. Ugh, she loved pictures. It's one thing when it is senior prom, but seventh grade homecoming isn't really that big of a deal.

"Mom, when you say boys, are you including Edward in that?" I asked her, trying to be nonchalant about it. When she and Rosalie gave me amused glances I knew that I hadn't managed to fool anyone. My mom was purely amused, but with Rosalie there was an underlying of rage. She was always mad that he was the only guy in the entire school that didn't like her. Oh, of course she had her 'monkey man' Emmett, but the fact that he didn't even care seemed to tick her off.

"Of course, he's your brother. In fact, I'm going to make you take one with just you and him in it for that comment," said my mom, trying to appear stern, but her muffled laughter betraying her. I rolled my eyes and turned toward the window, praying that we would be done with this soon. Oh, good, I can see our house.

"We're home!" I screamed the second that I got out of the car. My dad chuckled and hugged me.

"You look beautiful," he whispered. I smiled at him and hugged him again. I had such a great dad; I needed to appreciate how lucky I was more often. I saw Emmett and Jasper pulling in, and them barely glancing back at their parents once they saw us. Jasper gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and repeated what my dad has said. And Emmett… well, I think that Emmett went into shock once he saw Rosalie.

"Pictures… again!" said my mom, making us all squeeze together despite our protests. She had one of all the girls, one of all the guys, a picture of Jazzy and me, one of Rosalie and Emmett, and, true to her word, one of Edward and me. We groaned in unison, but she forced us together anyway. After she said that we were done, we walked away as fast as possible.

"Could you two at least pretend to like each other?" my mom asked with a sigh, the amusement in her voice barely concealing the regret.

"Are we ready?" I asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had come on suddenly. They all reacted, saying yes in some way or another. My mom went inside to get her car keys, and my dad had pulled Edward aside to say something to him. I turned to Rosalie and smiled, "Aren't you excited?" She nodded, laughing as I tripped over my heels. These godforsaken things were going to be the death of me, but I was determined to master them.

We all piled into the car, and Rosalie and I pushed Emmett and Jasper into the very back. Edward sat in the front by my mom, and Rosalie and I sat in the middle. I was so excited!

"Okay, be safe, and make good choices!" said my mom, laughing as we all ignored her. We said goodbye and she pulled away. I wasn't sure, but I thought that I saw a few tears leaking out of her golden brown eyes. Weird.

"Bella!" I said, seeing the back of her head. When she turned around, I thought that I had mistaken her for someone else. She looked absolutely gorgeous, with her hair falling in ringlets and her make-up less heavily applied. I stood there with my mouth hanging open as I floundered around in my head trying to remember how to close it. She walked over to me with a smile on her face, obviously pleased by my reaction.

"Does it look good?" asked Bella, letting her insecurities show. I gave her a disbelieving look, and she smiled, hugging me and laughing. "I love you Alice, you're like a little fairy!" said Bella, laughing at my confused expression. Fairy? I'd heard dwarf and shrimp before, but I think that was a first for fairy.

"Anyway… you look amazing Bella! I can't believe that you would even think that you didn't! I wish that I looked exactly like you, except that would be kind of weird. You got my point, right?" I said with it all coming out so fast that I didn't even catch half of it.

"Well, I gathered that you think that I'm beautiful, but that's about all I heard," said Bella laughing. I rolled my eyes and dragged her into the gym, pulling her with me as we started to dance. We danced for what seemed like forever until a slow song came on. Jasper asked me to dance, and Bella said that she wanted to ask someone to dance. I smiled at her to let her know that she should, and Jasper and I danced for the rest of the song. When I looked around after the song was over, I didn't see Bella. I don't know why, but the first place that I looked for her was the bathroom.

"Bella, Bella?" I asked, peering under each of the stalls until I saw Bella's flats. Of course, she was so klutzy that flats were probably the more practical choice. "Bella, are you okay?" I asked, noticing for the first time since I walked in that she was crying.

"Yes, of course I'm fine," came Bella's indignant reply, even though I could clearly hear the tears in her voice. She unlocked the door and came out, and I saw that even though her eyes were puffy, her make-up didn't run. Had she known that she was going to cry?

"Bella…" I said, not finishing because I was sure that she would be able to fill in the blanks. She gave me helpless look and sighed, coming to some conclusion in her head.

"Okay, so I asked someone to dance," she started, trying to keep the tears at bay, "and he said no, that he would never want to dance with a loser like me, and that I'm stupid being the new girl, not knowing how things work around here." She stopped at that, the tears falling freely at this point.

"Who said that to you?" I asked, dreading the answer, because I already knew.

She looked up at me with her tear-stained face and whispered a name with such sadness that I wanted to go beat him up, "Edward."

"EDWARD ANTHONY MASON CULLEN!" I screamed once we had started walking home. Rose was a little ways behind us, but I could tell that she was trying to give us privacy. "How could you say something like that to anyone?" I asked, lowering my voice a bit but not any less upset. He looked confused, but when recognition dawned in his eyes he just smirked.

"She asked if I would like to dance with her, and I said no," he said, obviously feeling above being ashamed. I glared at him and he said, "fine, I said some other stuff as well, but what's your point? It's not like it's that big of a deal.

"You know what Edward? It is a big deal. You obviously don't know how to treat women, because stuff like that is what sticks with them for the rest of their lives. And you know what else? When you ignore someone you said that you loved, that sticks with them for life as well," I said, both of us knowing that I wasn't talking about Bella anymore, "and it isn't 'no big deal' it's a very big deal. And probably two of the biggest mistakes that you have ever made."

I stopped trying to hide my tears, and ran into the house and into my room as fast as possible. I heard Rosalie yelling at him and I smiled. I really hope that he learned something tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8- Confrontations**

**Hey, I'm so sorry that it has been so long, but between school soccer dance and an impossible dance teacher I've had no time. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, not mine**

I woke up the next morning and just about screamed when I looked in the mirror. Apparently crying yourself to sleep has its' downsides, even if it feels better at the time. I went into the bathroom and began furiously applying under-eye cream, hoping that it wouldn't be too obvious. Once I finished I looked into the mirror again. I sighed. Of course it had to be obvious. Stupid Edward.

Last nights events came rushing back into my mind. Edward rejecting Bella, our fight, the fact that Rosalie had high-fived his face for me. I love that girl. She had came in last night and asked if I wanted to talk, but wasn't all rejected and upset that I didn't. She was great that way, not too pushy. My anger toward Edward hadn't dimmed over night; it had gotten worse. I got dressed in my favorite outfit, hoping in vain that it would make me feel better.

I walked down stairs toward the kitchen and grabbed a bowl, a spoon, some mild and my favorite cereal. My mom walked in, took one look at my face and walked right over to me. I hate how she has the worst timing on being perceptive.

"What's wrong Alice?" She asked, taking in the fact that I was wearing my favorite clothes and a frown. She could always read my face, and the fact that my eyes were still all red and puffy didn't help much.

"Uh…" I started. Edward chose that exact moment to walk in, cutting my confession short. Why did my family have the worst timing ever? I did notice, with much satisfaction, that you could still see the mark where Rosalie had slapped him. My mom, of course, noticed that I had stopped talking right when Edward walked in and glared at him.

"What did you do this time, Edward?" she asked, sounding more wistful than angry. He looked confused and then glared at me once he had realized what she was talking about. He should just be glad that I didn't tell her about what he did at school. Then again, the principal filled a lot of that in for her.

"I didn't do anything wrong! All I did was reject one of Ali's little friends at the dance and now they all hate me," he said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. I gave him a look for not telling the whole story. He looked in the other direction, but I was pretty sure that my mom wasn't that dim.

"Alice, what did he really do?" she asked, turning to me. I didn't look over at Edward, but I was pretty sure that if I had he would have been glaring at me.

"Okay, so do you remember Bella?" I asked her, continuing once she nodded, "He told her no and that she was new here and that she didn't know how things work. He also said that he would never dance with a loser like her." Venom had crept into my voice throughout my rant, and I saw Edward flinch a little toward the end.

"Edward, I'm pretty sure that we've established that you don't know how to treat girls," my mom started, shooting a meaningful glance toward me, "but that does not give you any excuse at all to be blatantly rude, mean, and disrespectful." I appreciated her effort. I really did. But we both new that he would nod and agree and take any punishment she could dish out without complaining, and then do the exact same thing all over again.

"Okay, sure whatever. I'm going to be late to school." He said this all with his voice devoid of emotion, and I knew that this time wasn't going to be any different than all of the others. I hugged my mom and thanked her for trying, walking out the door toward school and making a point of staying as far away from Edward as possible. All though in my defense, he didn't make much of an effort to walk next to me either.

"Bella!" I yelled as soon as I saw her standing by her locker with Rosalie, who I'm sure, was recounting the night's events to her. They both glanced up and braced themselves as they saw me running in to hug them. I giggled and began to pick up the books that Bella had spilled as result of my overzealous hug.

"Hi Ali, I was just filling Bella in about last night," said Rosalie, confirming my thoughts from earlier. I nodded and started to pay attention so that I could hear what exactly Rosalie had said to Edward last night. "I called him a large amount of names that could probably get me suspended, and then I ended the night by five-staring his face," said Rosalie, not really surprising me. We all giggled, but I don't think that Rosalie noticed the shadow of sadness that quickly passed over Bella's face.

I glanced down at my phone for a minute, sighing as I realized that if I didn't leave now, I would be late to first period. Again. I waved goodbye to them, jealous of the fact that they had first period together. I had to spend it with Lauren and Jessica. I'm still not quite sure how they managed to get every single one of their classes together.

I walked into first right as the bell rang. At least I was still technically on time. I said hello to my Mrs. Wu and took my seat next to Sara. I was always coming late, and by this point most teachers had learned to ignore it.

"Hey girl, how's it going?" I asked her quietly as we previewed lesson 25. We were in the same book as last year, so we were starting in the middle of the old book so that we could finish. Otherwise I wouldn't know that 'chen tian' means spring.

"Great, I got to dance with my crush!" she said a little bit too loudly, causing Lauren and Jessica to glare at us. Still not entirely sure what there problem is, but I don't think that even the school psychiatrist could figure it out. Those girls have major issues. I voiced my complaint to Sara and we started laughing so hard that even Mrs. Wu couldn't ignore us, and that women is usually the most even tempered of them all.

"Girls, you are both great students, but please keep the laughing to a minimum," said Mrs. Wu. We struggled to compose ourselves, careful not to glance at Lauren or Jessica. Or each other for that matter. We studiously looked at the new vocabulary for the section, still silently laughing inside. All I'm saying is that it's a good thing that my back was to the teacher.

_BEEEEEEP _

Apparently administration was already bored with the bell and had decided to change it yet again. To be honest, this one was better than the last one. At least this one didn't cause all of the teachers to break into the chorus of some old bell song.

"Saved by the bell!" said Rosalie, walking up to me with a smirk. She began to explain what had happened during first with Edward, "He honestly didn't say anything to her! No rude remark or any follow up like usual!" We were all happy of course, but I was really surprised. It was a bad thought, but I was wondering if he was waiting for a better moment to embarrass her. I shook the thought off, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of my head.

"LUNCH TIME!" screamed Emmett, running down the hall after sixth. Some of the other football players laughed, but most of the students just stared at him like he was crazy. Rosalie managed to smack him on the arm before he ran toward the lunch line, screaming something about getting us all pizza.

"Bella, come here, Emmett's going to grab us all pizza," I said to Bella, stopping her before she entered the lunchroom. She started to say something about how he shouldn't buy her anything, but I just put my hand over her mouth and kept walking.

"Don't worry about it, he gets free pizza until the end of this year. No matter how much her wants." She laughed at this, probably imagining how Emmett had managed to win free pizza, and the ambitious idea the administration had offering that to Emmett of all people.

"Okay, so Emmett and Jazzy are going to have a guys day with Edward tomorrow, since we have the day off, and they're going to talk to him. Not just about you," I said as she started to protest, "just about the way he handles girls in general. He definitely needs that since my dad won't ever do that for him.

"Heck, her dad probably encourages it," said Rosalie jokingly.

"What does my dad encourage?" asked Edward, walking up to our table. I think that if looks could kill, Edward would be dead five times over at this point. He blatantly ignored our glares and looked at Bella smirking before continuing. "Anyway, I wanted to tell Alice that Papa is in the hospital and that you need to spend the night at a friends house because mom and dad drove up to see him. Just letting you know!" He walked away, jumping when I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the now deserted hallway.

"How can you say something like that and then just walk away?" I asked Edward fairly outraged. He winced at the ferocity of my voice and looked away, not saying anything. I had known my brother long enough to know that he was about to say something, but I could not for the life of me figure out what.

"Did you want me to start crying? Did you want me to tell you that he didn't think he would make it through the night because his lungs are starting to shut down? Did you want me to say that they really don't think that he'll make it longer than a few months?" he asked, the tears behind his eyes mirroring my own.

"Maybe not, but I don't think I deserved you dumping all that on me and then walking away without so much as an explanation. We have both known all of them except Bella since we were little, and you should know as well as anyone that I'm going to tell them exactly what's going on." I said, reminding him of what he should already know.

"Have fun going through all this without any friends. Because the only people that truly know and care about you are the ones that you are hurting the most." At that I turned around and walked back to my table. Back to all the people that should be both of our friends.

**Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine- Meeting Rene

_Hey, I've finally decided to update again! If you haven't already, you should read my new story called Somebody Save me._

_Disclaimer: I am not, no matter what you think, Stephenie Meyer._

AlicePOV

After my outburst at Edward I was feeling very good about finally standing up to him after all of these years. Rosalie had a slightly awed look on her face and Bella just looked upset.

"You go girl! I never thought that you would ever have the guts to stand up to him!" said Rosalie, giving me a high five before returning to her salad. By now I realized that Bella looked more thoughtful than upset now. I think that she felt me looking at her, because at that very moment she looked up and blushed. I don't know how she does that! It's like there is an ever-present blush just under the surface of her face.

"Bella, what are you thinking about? You looked miles away before you realized that I had noticed," I asked Bella, truly curious at this point. Her face had seemed so serene, like whatever problems were usually there had been replaced by sympathy.

"Oh, well I was actually about to ask you if you wanted to come spend the night at my place tonight. I'm with my mom for the week and I know that she is dying to meet you. Please?" she added at the end, giving me a smile. I was absolutely going to say yes, but I wanted to tease her a little bit first.

"Well…" I started, laughing when her face fell, "of course! I would love to!" her smile was back on her face in a second and I saw the strangest look on Rosalie's face. Was it almost… jealous? No, Rosalie doesn't get jealous. At least, she didn't get jealous of me.

"Oh, and Rose you should come too," said Bella, almost as if it was assumed. I saw that strange emotion disappear from her face and I frowned in thought. I wonder if she really was jealous.

"Oh, this will be so much fun. Do you have cookie dough? And stuff to make s'mores? Oh, never mind, I'll just stop by the store on the way to your house. Oh, and I'll bring sour gummy worms for sure!" I said, getting very excited. Rosalie nodded in agreement, but I don't think that she was agreeing with all of the junk food. I think that she was just agreeing with coming to hang with Bella and I. I can't wait to meet her mom!

"Um Alice, I don't really want to start a fire for the s'mores…" said Bella, trailing off. I looked at her wide-eyed, and began to explain the wonders of making s'mores in the microwave. Oh Bella, I love how young and naïve you are.

"Okay, so I'll call mom and tell her that I found someone to stay with and check on Papa, and the two of you do whatever you need to," I said, pulling my phone out and walking away. If Papa was doing badly I didn't want to cry in front of my friends. Well, I didn't want to cry at all, but it could still happen.

"Mom?" I asked as she picked up the phone on the other end of the line.

"Oh Alice, I'm so sorry that I couldn't come get you! They weren't sure if Papa was going to make it and I didn't want you to see him- well, I didn't want you to see anything that you might regret later. So he's apparently fine. Well, as fine as he can be, but I really should go back now. I'll call you if anything happens, okay?" said my mom quickly. I nodded, and then said okay when I remembered that she couldn't hear me.

"Oh, and mom?" I asked quickly, hoping that she hadn't hung up yet. Once I confirmed that she hadn't, I said, "Rosalie and I are going to stay at Bella's house tonight. I want to spend some time with the girls and I want to meet Bella's family." My mom said okay but that she really had to go back to Papa now, and that I should call her before I went to sleep.

I hung up with her and looked up at my friends, "Okay, I'm in! Rose, you need to call your mom but knowing her I'm sure that she'll say yes. And Bella is your mom going to pick us up or is someone going to drop us off?"

Bella and Rosalie quickly got out there phones and walked toward the bathroom, not wanting to get caught. I frowned at that- I hadn't even thought about the fact that a teacher might walk out and see me… and take my phone away. Okay, no way would I let that happen. One time a teacher tried to take my phone away from me and ended up… well, let's just say, wishing that she hadn't.

"Hey, Alice? I really hope your grandpa's going to be okay," said Emmett, giving me a big bear hug. I smiled and laughed, glad that I had him to cheer me up when no one else could make me laugh. Although it really wasn't THAT hard to make me laugh.

"Thanks Em, but I really don't want to be late for Mrs. Coop's class. The last time I was late she smacked me with a ruler. I smacked her back and got sent to the principle's office. I don't want a repeat- he's already mad at me," I said, laughing at the memory. I had talked my way out of trouble, but Mrs. Coop still didn't trust me. She also didn't lose the thrill of smacking me with a ruler- so the process continues. I don't know what goes on in that crazy old mind of hers.

The day went by minute by minute. I hate days that you are looking forward to something and therefore the day absolutely has to last forever. It almost makes me want to stop having things to look forward to. Well, almost but not quite.

"Hey girly, you ready to meet Momma Swan?" asked Rosalie, coming up behind me and swinging her arm over my shoulder. I laughed and agree, wondering if Bella's mom would let us call her that. I decided to ask Bella… and she walked up behind us. Speak of the devil.

"Hey, Bella, will your mom let us call her Momma Swan?" asked Rosalie, beating me. I knew there was a reason we were such good friends- we think exactly alike. Except when it comes to food. I love it, and she sees it as an unfortunate necessity. How can she not love food?

"Umm, I don't think so but she likes people to call her Rene." Said Bella. Rosalie and I both groaned at the same time. Then promptly started laughing. That's just how we are, but Bella looked totally lost. Then I realized she was doing that zoning thing again.

"Bella? Bella….? Earth to Bella? So, just so you know I'm secretly in love with you…" I said, trying to get her attention. She ignored me until that last bit. Then she looked at me and frowned, smacking me lightly when I told her I was kidding.

"Alice! And you got my hopes us!" she said, laughing along with us. Jessica and Lauren walked by and glared at us and I think I heard the words 'Alice' and 'whore' come out of their mouths. Ooh, so that's how it's going to be. I was about to walk up to them and slap someone but Rosalie held me back with a warning glance. And her nails pinching into my arm.

"Oh, hey look my mom is here," said Bella, completely oblivious to the silent conversation that Rosalie and I were having. We turned around glaring semi-jokingly at each other before turning our attention to the black Honda Civic coupe that was in front of us.

"Shotgun!" shouted Rosalie before I could react. I resumed my glaring, upset that because I was the shortest, I always end up in the back seat.

A woman about 5'10" with heels included stepped out of the car. She had somewhat curly dark red hair and she was absolutely gorgeous. I could tell right away that she was the kind of person who was stopped by guys on the road to ask her out.

"Hey girls, I'm Rene and don't call me anything else. It's nice to meet you!" she said, shaking my hand. I smiled back up at her, but all I could notice was the unmistakable hint of sadness in her eyes- just like her daughter's.


End file.
